Johnathan Paoli
THE Constitutional Court has dismissed a challenge to the Electoral Amendment Act from non-profit organisation Rivonia Circle as well as the Build One South Africa party (BOSA), following a challenge aimed at provisions around the submission of candidate lists ahead of the national and provincial elections on 29 May.
In addition the contention includes an objection with the signature requirements for parties not represented in parliament’s top house, the National Assembly.
This means political parties will now have to meet around 15% of the quota for a specific region as obtained in the last election, and not the 1,000 like independent candidates, as had been hoped.
The ConCourt said that it was not in the interest of justice to entertain the application, which was brought on an urgent basis in December, and highlighted that the Electoral Amendment Act was enacted eight months prior, in April, and said the applicants had failed to show any justification for why they did not go to court earlier.
The court said that with the President now having proclaimed an election date, it risked causing “disruptions and uncertainty” in the preparations if it entertained the application.
However, a dissenting ruling, found that the court should have heard the application because of the important fundamental rights that were implicated.
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